Six times Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) champions Dhaka Abahani Limited advanced to the play-off stage of the AFC Cup Football' 2023-24 eliminating Club Eagles of the Maldives by 2-1 goal in a preliminary round match at the Sylhet District Stadium on Wednesday.

The winners dominated the first half by a solitary goal in a rain soaked muddy ground playing a comparativly good football, but the match was well contested in the 2nd half, when Club Eagles played a good match.

With the day's feat, popular sky-blue Dhanmondi outfit Dhaka Abahani smartly reached the play-off stage of the Asian South Zone to play the winners of Kolkata Mohun Bagan and Machhindra FC of Kathmandu on August 22.

Read: AFC Champions League: Bashundhara Kings to play Sharjah FC on Tuesday

Kolkata Mohun Bagan of India and Machhindra FC of Kathmandu scheduled meet each other on  Wednesday (August 16) night in a preliminary round match of the AFC Cup.

In the day' s vital match, St.Vincent and Grenadines striker Cornelius Ezekiel Stewart put Dhaka Abahani ahead in the 21st minute by a header from danger zone, capitalizing an acute right wing cross from David Fegwu (2-0).

Eagles Captain cum forward Ahmed Rizuvan restored parity for the Maldives team by a running shot, off a free kick of his mate in the 63rd minute (1-1).

Read: Dhaka Abahani reaches Sylhet to play AFC Cup Vs Club Eagles of Maldives

Brazilian defender Danilo Augusto scored the match- winning goal for Abahani just one minute before the final whistle by a good header from goalmouth melee, off a left corner of Uzbek medio Muzaffarjon Muzaffarov (2-1).

Meanwhile, Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) champions Bashundhara Kings was eliminated from the preliminary round of the Asian top tier club meet, the AFC champions league, losing to their much superior Sharjah FC of UAE by O-2 goal at the Sharjah Stadium Tuesday (Aug 15).

Read more: AFC playoff: Maldivian club Eagles start practising in Sylhet